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His distinctive high tone voice was unique and irreplaceable. There was a time when the group broke up, saying they could not continue without him. But the passage of time has drastically changed the distance between them. As fans around the world watched, one issue with X JAPAN's "new music" surfaced anew...
'X JAPAN's first new song in eight years, 'Angel', will be released on 28 July'. The announcement, which was made with a lot of enthusiasm in Yoshiki's voice, was greeted with cheers and applause from the audience. However, the man himself seemed to be somewhat unfazed by the announcement, although the corners of his mouth turned up for a moment.
On 16 May, YOSHIKI of X JAPAN held a press conference at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, US, to announce the release of a new single as X JAPAN. This will be the band's first single release since BORN TO BE FREE in November 2015.
X JAPAN has not been active publicly as a band since their live concert at Makuhari Messe in September 2018, and YOSHIKI's surprise announcement prompted some to ask if the band was restarting activities.
However, the release of this new song was fraught with problems. There was even a risk that it could lead to a break-up, let alone a relaunch.
However, this new song is not purely a "new song".
"Originally created around 2005 by YOSHIKI-san, the song was performed at X JAPAN's live concert at Yokohama Arena on 1 December 2015. It was a ballad with a calm tone, and vocalist Toshl, 57, played clear high notes to YOSHIKI's piano solo. Some fans shed tears at the live venue, and since that time, there have been many requests for the song to be released on an album" (music insider).
X JAPAN was formed by childhood friends YOSHIKI and Toshl, and when the band made its major label debut in 1989, it quickly became a major breakthrough. However, when Toshl left the band in 1997 at the height of its popularity due to a 'brainwashing scandal', YOSHIKI chose to break up the group, citing that there was no replacement vocalist. The group later reunited in 2007, ten years after Toshl's return, and continued their activities, but have not been active publicly since 2018. The reason lies within the band's contractual structure.
"X JAPAN has taken the unusual form of having each member individually sign a contract with a music publishing company controlled by YOSHIKI. In the course of their activities, there were frequent problems, such as non-payment of rights, and despite repeated discussions between YOSHIKI and the members, there was no improvement. The band has not been active since 2018 for contractual reasons" (aforementioned music insider).
This situation has not changed even now, the music insider also says. The band is unable to perform or record as a band. So what will happen to the release of new songs?
"The members responded to YOSHIKI's request and completed the song after sharing their opinions. There is a possibility that the recorded version from that time will be released, or that it will be rearranged and released". (music insider)
On the other hand, some people are predicting a "disappointing case" that will make fans unhappy.
At the press conference announcing the new release, YOSHIKI performed a short version of "Angel" on his piano. The vocalist for the song was not Toshl, but Beverly (28), a female singer from the Philippines.
No offers have been made to Toshl.
In 2018, YOSHIKI took charge of the theme song "Red Swan" for the popular anime "Shingeki no Kyojin season 3", but because the contract with Toshl was not renewed, he used L'Arc~en~Ciel's hyde (54) as vocalist. The band attempted to release the song under the name 'X JAPAN feat. HYDE', but after a flood of criticism from fans, the name was hastily changed to 'YOSHIKI feat. HYDE'.
"There is a possibility, again, that they are considering releasing the album with 'X JAPAN' as the title first and Beverly as a featured artist, and it is inevitable that there will be criticisms like in 2018, but looking at the current situation that YOSHIKI is in, it cannot be said that it won't happen." (entertainment industry insider).
Last November, YOSHIKI formed the four-piece band THE LAST ROCKSTARS with HYDE and others, with the goal of "going global from Japan".
However, sales of the first single, which was distributed simultaneously worldwide, were sluggish, and the tour of Japan and the USA, which took place from January to February this year, saw many empty seats at venues.
"YOSHIKI said in an interview that he was "trying to make a second song", but the future looks grim. In this situation, he is preparing for a world tour of classical performances starting in October. He may be wanting to draw attention to the name of X JAPAN, which has news value" (entertainment industry insider).
In recent years, a significant discrepancy has emerged between YOSHIKI and the other members in the way they relate to X JAPAN. While YOSHIKI frequently mentions X JAPAN in the media, the members keep their distance from the band and continue their solo activities. The sense of unity as a band seems to be fading year by year.
In fact, on the occasion of this release, YOSHIKI sent an email to the band members. The content of the email "reflects the band's sad situation", reveals another music insider.
YOSHIKI informed the members of the release of 'Angel' only a few days before the press conference. The communication was by e-mail, and it was not a request, but an inorganic report: "We're going to release 'Angel'". There was no explanation as to whether they were going to release a track recorded several years ago or whether they were going to make a new recording. The band members are said to be puzzled, but are taking a step back and watching his actions, thinking that it is "typical of YOSHIKI". They are looking forward to seeing how the song will be released.
Incidentally, it is believed that Toshl has not received any offers to be the vocalist at the moment.
The legendary band continues in disagreement. The members will soon reach their 60th birthdays.
Wow I can't believe we are talking about a new release here. But I wont believe it fully until I bought the single. ^^°
I guess it comes down to whatever contract they had and that maybe Toshi couldn't stop the release even if he wanted?
No word from him about the release...I am not even surprised.
Pata didn't either, but he isn't that active on Twitter.
Sugizo didn't post anything either.
if Toshi is really done with X Japan - and IMO a lot of his behaviour speaks for it - then why doesn't he officially leave the band?
Wouldn't be the first time....
He isn't in the band. None of the so-called "members" are in the band. The complete X universe is owned by Yoshiki Hayashi since about 2009-ish I think... The other guys are hired for gigs and studio sessions.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f3659851aab154328aeb206f33fdd2e72426a15e
This is about Yoshiki's photobook, if anyone is interested😁, but I prefer to read the comments, there are still questions about album X 😏
lol, each and every single comment is about the album
more and more people are getting visibly upset about the whole ordeal.
I wonder if Yoshiki will address this again...
Thank you for sharing this video, Alexsis.
Wow... I mean where to even begin with this dumpster fire of a video. It's kind of surreal for me, and so many others here who've been waiting for the better part of a decade for the new album to finally see ONE video where Yoshiki tries to address it. First, I think he's had a little too much wine leading up to this clip as he's not very coherent. To me it sounds as though other members got tired of his gruelling perfectionism and usual dictatorship over absolutely everything and got bored of nothing substantial ever happening. I think there's some truths to that rumour of legal issues with each members' management as well.
I still stand by my theory that Yoshiki was/is looking for a 'perfect storm' of events and timing to release the album; a perfect storm that may never come. I think he's in some fantasy mindset where he'll make some big splash into the US market and become huge in the West. As an artist, you don't wait for those scenarios, you create them because your music/art is so captivating and so cathartic, just as all great artists/bands have done in the past. Yoshiki should damn well know this after X's history from 1987-1997. He literally changed the music scene in Japan! Otherwise, just look at The Beatles to Nirvana to Ed Sheeran (and many others in between). I truly don't think Yoshiki is OK with only being a success in a niche market today. I think he's scared of releasing the album and it not having any substantial impact in the USA, which ties into my final thought...
That Yoshiki has become a sellout, and it's so painfully obvious in everything he's done for the past 10 years. Let me just state that I don't expect every major rock star, especially from a 'punk rock' background to just continue living in the ways they started, but when it comes to stringing along the fans that gave you all of this fame? That's where I draw the line. He literally says in the video, after wryly asking us to trust him, to just "let me enjoy these other things as an artist, the YoshikiMono, wine, credit card..." and then he even admitted he's a sellout! "I was like a rebel as a teenager so pretty amazing I have my own credit card." Who the fxck cares about your Rakuten Mastercard. It's probably a shitty signup bonus and redemption anyway...
Real talk, no X Japan fan is trying to stop you from having activities outside of the band but it's been a DECADE. Entire bands form, reach their peak of success and disband in less time. I should just have the guts to let it go and not care anymore...and there's months that go by where I don't care, but as a true fan, the enjoyment of X's music always comes rushing back and when it does, so does this torrent of intense frustration with Yoshiki. I have to learn to somehow lower my expectations.
The first and second nights were never officially released, but there are bootlegs on the internet for a long time.
And the 3rd night was officially released, but without Rose of Pain, never understood why.
Are there any missing/wrong notes? Maybe that's the reason why they cut it? Just guessing...
X with Orchestra is a great concert! Too bad it wasn't officially released.
I think they were at their peak around that time, 1991-1992, the last Tokyo Dome concert with Taiji was perfection, in my opinion. So that might have been their peak in terms of musical perfection.
But thinking about it, The Last Live was their emotional peak, it was possibly their most powerful performance. They gave it all.
Yoshiki, Heath and Pata are doing a live stream *together* this week... they will take questions.
I'd like to ask Pata why he only follows on Instagram the Yomiuri Giants but not Yoshiki, Toshi, Sugizo, Heath...
So, apparently Yoshiki stated in his New Year's message that X Japan would not be active in 2020. That supposedly a number of contract issues with members and management issues have to be resolved before X Japan can resume.
Yoshiki's message was this https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vb9cTAIeM/ but he doesn't mention any hiatus for the band. The strangest thing IMO is his "I felt alone" while apologizing for missing the (supposed, I know) deadline for X's new album.
I don't think he's doing well at all...
This actually makes sense, even with some holes.
But the manager could approach Yoshiki to get X copyright, but to do it, all the members (which were actually Pata, Heath, Hiroshi managind hide's part and Masaya managing Toshi's part) should agreed, as they all had their shares. How did he convince all of them? Mostly Hiroshi and Masaya, which I think would be the most difficult to deal.
I don't remember Toshi's autobiography that well, but I think there was a time around X Japan's breakup when his second brother was still managing his personal agency, and was fighting with Moritani? If the copyright change did occur in this time frame, I don't think HOH had enough control yet to raise any objections. Also another thing from his book, when the "Takeda" issue happened, Toshi had to return some of his Excess 24 shares as a form of apology. Not sure how much he returned, but this probably had something to do with how much say he has in X management.
As for Hiroshi, there are conspiracy theories that suggested he might have been manipulated by this ex-manager (again, that manager was close enough with Hiroshi to be the official funeral organizer for hide, was once involved with Headwax). He was suing Yoshiki and Japan Music Agency, but left Nexstar out of it (if I remember correctly). Another thing from that 2ch story I forgot to mention was that, this manager was also head of the X Japan production management committee which was created around the reunion in partnership with all members' agencies, but allegedly after all the money laundering and deficits that went down, the existing 4 members all decided to go around/break away from this committee. This might have eventually led to all the disorganization later on too?
PS. Heath's fight with his agency also somehow featured in this story, but wasn't explained very clearly.
Exactly.
This came up after the Headwax lawsuit. They exposed how X businesses worked.
Basically they created a management company, called Excess 24, on which each member had their shares (even Yoshiki having more than the others). It worked like this until 2008, according to Headwax statement. Basically after the first reunion concerts, all the bands' rights were transferred to Japan Music Agency (JMA), Yoshiki's office. And since then the members are hired by JMA, they don't have any part of the band anymore.
Yoshiki tried to centralize everything on himself, not only the management.
I won't extend myself, but my replies to an older thread (https://www.x-freaks.com/forum/index.php?topic=7567.0) I show what I think is wrong with X. And is basically how Yoshiki handles everything awfully.
The version I read that's translated from 2ch (yeah, 2ch, so take it with a grain of salt) goes something like this: an Excess 24 manager (not "Takeda" from Toshi's biography, but another one after him) persuaded GLAY to break away from Yoshiki's label around the time when X JAPAN was breaking up. Yoshiki then was facing a situation where he still had the debts from X JAPAN in Excess 24 but was not making any profits in the short-term, so some other shady guy came up to Y and promised to take care of the debt in exchange for X copyright, and that's how Japan Music Agency and all the confusing business side came about (and that's around 2000, not 2008 when the band reunited). According to this version, the pressure for reunion came after GLAY was problems with this manager, so that manager had to bank on an X reunion to get money. Around this time he was involved with NEXSTAR, but at least at one point he was also involved with Headwax (I think as a board member), and in 1998 he was even the official organizer for hide's funeral, so he definitely did have something to do with the lawsuits.
This version doesn't completely check out because "Takeda" did not feature in that story, but it does explain why GLAY wasn't on speaking terms with Yoshiki for years and suddenly got friendly to him again around the time of X reunion. Also this was translated years back when the lawsuits were still going on, so I'm not sure whether Yoshiki has completely got rid of these guys yet (probably yes), or replaced them with capable managers (probably not).
As a relatively new fan, I find this discussion interesting.
From what I understand, Yoshiki controls X Japan, he owns it, right? And the other band members are hired as needed?
It's not surprising that the money issue would come up at some point. The others get a salary, Yoshiki gets everything else. Sadly, that's not really a "band". So if they release a new album as X Japan... do they share the profits or does Yoshiki get everything? Surely, this has come up.
Not 100% sure on that. The business side of X has always been confusing AF. Prior to their break-out they did have an old management company and each member had shares of it, but after breakup it was closed down and Yoshiki transferred all X rights and debts to a new company, which then pays the copyright to other members. Last time I checked, this is currently his own agency (but not sure how much ownership he has over it). I think the whole confusing business side was at least partially the reason behind all the Headwax, Nexstar, Heath lawsuits (as far as I heard).There were quite a few shady people involved with X management back in those days, but once Yoshiki gets rid of them, I'm not sure whether the staff he replaces them with are all that capable either I feel like? But again, not 100% sure on that, hopefully there might be some fan who actually knows about corporate or copyright law LOOL
EDIT:
I checked Toshis Twitter profile. He never mentioned there anything about his X Japan activities. So he hadn't removed anything. ( https://web.archive.org/web/20181011081729/https:/twitter.com/toshlofficial )
Well I guess that means Sugizo isn't part of X anymore?
Kiss the Sky was played in total last year afair.
